mrvette

Went to the bank, parked in spot, pickup backed over my '72 front end....smashed hell outta the top of the RF fender and the nose and hood....and the headlight region....this all happened on Feb 20, Saturday in the bank parking lot.....the offender was nice enough to notify the bank and so I walked out and saw the damage.....

so it's been some 3 glass men on the job....why?? the first was Gordon Chevvy down the street and they were recommended by a local club member, but they kept the car for some 2 weeks and did almost nothing correctly, got pissed and pulled the car, took it to another guy recommended by a Sherwin auto paint store, here locally....HE messed up the hood but good.....
finally got hold of another guy who fixed not only the Gordon screw ups but the hood also....

BUT, the time span has revealed with vibrations/driving/sun/heat/cool/rain that the glass has many stresses in it, and revealing more small cracks than the law allows.....

SO, under similar circumstances and a couple month's time....what are your all experiences????

AND how long to paint it, so to not see any further cracks in the glass??

twinpack

Sorry to hear of the your woes. I am really no help mainly because I am a weekend warier. But either wait for DUB to see this post or contact him. His post always are vety informative and pot on for the most part. Good luck and post outcome.

Ibanez540r

Wait, so you had fiberglass repairs done and left them raw and have since been driving it? Is it at LEAST primered?

If not, could be your problem. Wait for DUB, but pretty sure unless an additive is used, the resins are not UV stable. You'll also risk contamination making the paint process a disaster.

Anyway, if you do not get an answer here, post in the Paint & Body section of the forum.

DUB

I need to see what you are seeing...and I knwo that may be darn near impossible due to taking photos of what you can see often times do not show up.

Not knowing what was used to repair it...commenting any further is futile.

these 'small cracks' as you put it...are they still covered with paint or is your body stripped and getting wet where it was repaired and NOT primed???

DUB

fuely

Are you talking from experience? I drove my 63 80K miles for twenty years with mostly bare fiberglass and found the resins to be UV resistant and even water proof. When I got the auto ready for paint I just used sealer primer with a few thin coats of filler primer and shot it. Paul

mrvette

Car/fender/nose has been primed and so not much issue with rain/water and sunlight.....but I did park it in the drive to get the sun on the nose where the cracks were, no change.....

so to know what to do?? drive it for a few months and allow time for the stress cracks to show?? or ....just have it painted??

really tired of this crap over the last 2+ months.....but I want the car decent/right when over with, not some recurring POS I have to deal with.....

Ibanez540r

I know epoxy resins are not UV stable. Polyester may be so if pre-72, would probably make a difference. Now I don't know to what extent, but the UV will have some effect.

"Waterproof" is a bit strong of a term. Again I'm pretty sure polyester glass will absorb some water, but not being submersed (rain on a car) it will dry out fine.

Direct experience? No. Enough knowledge to know some characteristics to not do something blindly without knowing the possibility of adverse effects? Yes. I would love for DUB to clarify with his experience.

Leaving bare glass on the exterior body exposed for an extended period of time while using/driving the car.. me? I wouldn't want the risk of grease/grime/oil exposure/intrusion that will haunt the paint process. Glad yours turned out great.

DUB

'fuely'

I am going to respond to what you wrote...BUT....in my opinion with only 14 posts in about 2 years...and you being what I refer to as a 'ghost' due to not filing out your Public Profile (even a basic description)...it is hard to take your experience SERIOUS. WAY too many factors that you can not control can come into play....and the last piece of the puzzle is actually how well the paint job held out after driving it for 20 years partially exposed. AND...I can write that the fiberglass can break down and allow for the fibers to become exposed. IF that did not happen in your case...then count your blessings.

Because any person who would drive there 1963 80,000 miles in 20 years with bare fiberglass showing is either ASKING FOR PROBLEMS....and/or completely FULL OF IT! You are NOT obviously aware on how the facotry fiberglass CAN absorb substances...that then make it REALLY HARD to get them out. Who knows...maybe you do know. SO...20 years without absorption...and all you had to do was seal it....well...go buy a lottery ticket because you are one lucky person.

I am GLAD that your 'method' of testing GM fiberglass for 20 years worked for you....but I honestly will let all that need to know that is NOT what you should do.

mrvette,

I will write this due to still not seeing actually what happened to the body in this incident.

Drive it and see what happens with primer on it or paint it. It has EVERYTHING to do with who fixed it and the level of attention they took to try to catch all possible stress cracks. And if they were hampered due to the cracks are all over the place...and not wanting to get to them....then you get what you get.

I tell my customers this...and remember I do this for a living so my time is not free. Sometimes a panel should be replaced due to the amount of TIME it will take me to repair it gets really close to being cost inhibitive. It isn't the fact that I can not fix it...but it is pointless to save a panel if it is going to cost a customer a lot more than installing a new one. I knwo how some people can not grasp that...but it happens...and unless you are fixing your own Corvette and want to spend NUMEROUS hours of your time to save you $$$.....then have at it. I myself...can not work for people for nothing.

SO....it depends on the person who fixed your car and what was actually wrong with it.

DUB

fuely

Dub, so are all the bodys that you work on painted on the underside? I personally have not seen more than some blackout and undercoating in the wheel well area. The rest is naked fiberglass. I will get to filling out my profile just as soon as I get a moment. I am one of those Do It Yourselfers so I am not on the forum often. I also work full time on a career that required many hours per week. I once saw a write up in a national Corvette magazine describing how to install a split back on one that was removed. The writer explained about the metal that was in the split that had to be welded. I had personal experience installing a split in my 63 and had to take exception. He said that he had never actually done one so I guess that gave me more information for his written instructions. I have worked on my fiberglass auto for about 48 years. I am sorry to get your feathers ruffled. Maybe we can rewind and start over.

Richard Daugird

Sounds like your damage was similar to mine...

DUB

REWIND in progress.

Comparing the bare fiberglass floor boards to an exterior panel is making my head . They both are fiberglass...but most people do not worry about an area of a car that is not visually noticed all the time. NOT writing that the condition of bare fiberglass floor boards is NOT important...but who actually is going to lose sleep over an issue in the floor pan?...versus blisters in the exterior body that is painted. So using the bare floor boards is just not a good example.

AS you may know...but moisture or chemical contamination problems can occur to ALL fiberglass/SMC panels. I personally do not care if it is the early press molded fiberglass panels or a SMC panel for 2015 Corvette. Leaving the panel exposed to the elements is something that I just can not endorse. And the reason I can not endorse it is because in the past 30+ years of working on Corvettes...I HAVE seen the effects of doing what you did.

So if I came across quite 'venomous'...I have my reasons because I have paid the price with my time and energy to repairs problems caused by bare fiberglass exposed to the elements. And remarking about your Public Profile and not having commented in so long....I had to 'wonder' if what you wrote was 'real'...or a load of----.

So....many people may read what you wrote and say to themselves. "Well he did it...so that means that I can do it....because no one wrote anything differently". And in reality...it is not wise to do that. I stand by that comment. And as always. If it is your car ...you can do as you wish.

DUB

augiedoggy

I have been driving mine here and there with the paint stripped/ being stripped for two years while doing mechanical work and the water does not absorb into the fiberglass... As mentioned there is a lot of areas under the car were the fiberglass is exposed. (actually there are area where the glass has rotted like part of the inner fender and firewall which I am repairing).. I cant even remember if my fiberglass floor has some sort of sealer on it... Now I do keep the car in the garage and hope to actually get the paintwork done in the next couple months.. I am sealing the car with epoxy primer before any primer or paint is applied but honestly I think The effects of the bare fiberglass being exposed are a bit over expressed often here. Ive had fiberglass kit cars and other toys and it takes a lot of long exposure in the sun over years to cause damage from what Ive seen. I agree its safer to never leave it exposed but I dont think it will cause any real negative effects if part of the body is exposed to the sun for a hours at a time for a short time either. Ive seen a lot of areas on the insides of boats that aren't sealed... lots of moisture there..

jhbaker78

I'm glad I came across this thread. The 79 that my dad left to me when he passed recently has been sitting for a few years sanded all the way down. Someone bumped into it with their car years back so he sanded it down with the intention to repaint it. As in life, other things kept coming up and he never had the money to get it done. So, it's been sitting. It had a cover on it for a while until the weather chewed it up, and now I put a new cover on it after my dad passed last week. The only cracks I've noticed are some around the exterior door handles. The rest of the body looks good. There are a few small minor cracks here and there. Is this going to be a huge expense or problem for me to get these filled in correctly and painted? I want to go black and have a few coats of clear on it so it looks wet all the time. As soon as I can, I will take pictures and add them to my profile. I just took ownership of it a week ago so pretty much everything to do with this car is new to me, but I'm determined to get her back in shape. Is that the process with fiberglass bodies? Epoxy filler for the cracks, then so on..? I don't mean to sound ignorant, it's just that this car means a lot to me and I want to do it right. That's why I joined the group so I can ask questions and do my research...

DUB

People can attempt to dismiss the FACTS that UV exposure and exposure to the environment WILL effect the fiberglass to some degree. And this is because I have had to deal with it...and it is NOT my imagination when I encounter it from time to time. SO....

When a person gets several hundred Corvettes in just about every stage of perfection and abuse....then I am SURE that that person would agree with me.

I am not judging anyone. SO...if a person want to drive around with raw fiberglass....GO AHEAD and do it. I am not going to have to deal with it.

And while a person is at it...and if that person feels that the fiberglass does not absorb anything...including water....go ahead and spray some tire shine, silicone, vinyl protectant in the garage where your Corvette is at and SEE what happens.

And it is not just me who comments of what to do if the RAW body gets wet.... and a person can search out this on the forum...because..... MANY people wash the bodies down with DAWN and water,....and THEY even wrote that they allow the body to dry out for some time BEFORE they do ANYTHING with it. That is their choice. I do not do that wash a body down with DAWN and I do NOT allow water (at all costs) get on the bare fiberglass/SMC when I am working on it so I can take that foreign substance influence OUT of the equation of potential failures. because priming or gelcoating or applying a filler on a surface that has excessive moisture in it is not WISE....but do not listen to me...I obviously comment on issues that may come across as being IMPORTANT..and express that accordingly.....when in actuality...they are as important as YOU want them to be. I will do what I do ...and the rest of you do as you wish.

DUB